Tito - Alive and...well alive.

I was out of town for a bit for work and during our daily chat Alycia told me the latest Tito story. She came into the kitchen for a cup of tea and found Tito, sprawled halfway out of his crate, eyes halfway open, and tongue sticking out. Tito never sleeps like this and she thought he had finally passed on. But after a minute of the now-common "Tito breathing check" (a long look to verify that his chest is indeed moving up and down), she realized he was indeed actually still alive.

She grabbed her phone and snapped a picture. While maneuvering in for a close up, Tito sprang to life and echoed his familiar refrain about not liking folks taking his picture.

This photo is really only funny because Tito is in fact still very much alive. I actually laughed out loud when I saw it 'cause well jeez, he sure doesn't look alive. 18 years old and still as ornery as ever. Tito.

Shadowfax Snuggling Yet Again

Shadowfax loves her people (truly she loves all people), and enjoys nothing more than being physically attached to them.

If it were up to her the house rules would be changed to allow dogs on the sofa and bed. As it stands, we sit on the floor for snuggling time and allow her to sit on our laps on the back patio furniture. She greatly enjoys this.

Garden Pictures and Future Plans - Part 2 of 2

We continue our pictures and stories about the front yard garden from Part 1.

It took a couple of weeks over the winter, but we had a sidewalk installed in the front yard of our homestead. It was one of the few oddities about our house, there was no front sidewalk from the street to the front door. The steps to the front door just kind of deposited you onto the lawn, from whence you were supposed to make your way to the street.

The walkway alone adds an incredible amount of visual interest and structure. It's always amazing to me how one thing can change the look of a garden dramatically. The picture above was taken in mid-May after we had removed a few shrubs and hadn't added some additional annuals for color.

It will take a few years for the new shrubs we planted to grow up, and we're still planning on pruning or removing some of the other stuff, but this will do for now. The pots on the front step add some color and there are both annuals and perennials in the front beds that should be much more striking in another month.

The current master plan is going to consist of garden beds on either side of the new walkway, with meandering connected grass paths enabling garden viewers to see everything. This will greatly reduce the amount of grass to mow (much off the current grass will become flower beds), granting me less time for mowing/edging and more time for playing with fun plants and pretty flowers.We will have more posts as the front garden evolves and changes.